Autonomo Spain shares five years of experience with tax guides, tools, services, and clear explanations for freelancers in Spain.
Hi, I’m Adrienne. I’ve been autónoma in Spain for many years, and in this website I’ve put together some of what I’ve learned — and what I wish I’d known or had easy access to when I was starting out. More about me.
Over the years, I’ve worked with all sorts of clients in Spain, Europe and across the world and taken on all kinds of projects during my rather adventurous journey as an autónomo in Spain. Alongside the actual work, I’ve had to learn the ins and outs of the bureaucracy, work with tax deadlines, tracking revenue and expenses, even redoing an invoice or two because I got the format or VAT wrong.
It’s been a massive learning curve, but now I feel like I know what I’m doing, and I thought some of what I’ve picked up might be helpful to you too. So I decided to write it all down.

Use a Sede Electrónica website to access tax forms, submit declarations, check notifications, and manage your autónomo paperwork online.

Customs taxes and fees apply to packages sent from outside the EU to EU countries. How does it affect you?

Autonomo is the category of employment for a freelancer or self-employed person in Spain.

Cuota is one of the terms you’ll here all the time. It is basically the Spanish word for “social security payment” but here’s some more info…

There are strict invoice requirements that are set by the tax department. This is advice on how to format an invoice.

Alta and baja are the official terms for registering and deregistering your freelance business with the tax and social security systems.

The Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal (SEPE) is Spain’s national employment service.

You need to be in the register of intra-community operators if you are going to buy or sell goods or services to other EU countries without charging IVA/VAT.